Greenpeace activists end two-day blockade of Turów coal mine

Activists from the environmental organisation Greenpeace left an excavator today after a two-day protest at the Turów lignite mine in Poland, which lies near the border with the Liberec Region. During the protest, they called on the Polish government to set a date for closing the mine and begin work on a plan to transform the region.

„Prime Minister Donald Tusk has heard our message. Now it is time for him to act,“ the organisation wrote on X.

Seventeen protesters spent 30 hours on the excavator, which is as tall as a 13-storey building, according to the PAP news agency. They also spent the night there. Police kept watch over them throughout, ensuring the safety of both the protesters and mine employees, and trying to negotiate with the activists. According to the Czech branch of Greenpeace, one Czech citizen was among the activists.

After arriving, they unfurled a banner bearing a photograph of Tusk, the slogan „Coal is over“ and the appeal „Prime Minister, take care of the people!“.

The open-pit mine at Turów supplies coal to the neighbouring power plant. According to the organisers, the Polish authorities have been lying to people in the region for years when they say that Turów has a future until the mid-2040s. Greenpeace says that electricity production from renewable sources will replace the increasingly expensive coal-fired generation.

PGE Group, which owns both the mine and the power plant, plans to continue mining there until 2044. It intends to expand the mine to 30 square kilometres along the road from Zittau to Bogatynia. Residents on the Czech side of the border fear the loss of groundwater, increased dust levels, noise and land subsidence. The Polish side has already built an underground barrier intended to prevent water from flowing away, while an earth embankment protects people on the Czech side from dust and noise from the mine.

According to the Gazeta Prawna website, the Polish branch of Greenpeace also highlighted technical problems with new equipment at the power plant, which has been out of operation for a total of more than 530 days due to faults since it was commissioned in 2021.

PGE Group accused the activists of having „created an immediate threat to the health and lives of both themselves and mine workers“ by trespassing, and said this was why police were called to the site. PGE also assured the public that the protest had not affected the power plant’s operations or electricity supplies to customers.

The company stressed that Turów generates eight per cent of Poland’s electricity, ensures stable supplies and is particularly important when renewable power generation is insufficient. PGE noted that the environmental protection authority approved coal mining until 2044 three years ago.

The Polish branch of Greenpeace responded that the power plant would no longer be of much significance by the beginning of the next decade, and warned that without a firm mine closure date and a transition plan, people working for PGE would lose their source of income and the region would face decline.